THE SUBTLE ANATOMY PART III, THE ASTRAL AND MENTAL BODY

The astral body can be thought of as a field of energy occupying roughly the same space as the aura, but constantly shaped and reshaped by patterns of thought and feeling. All images, words, and sensations affect this body, and are affected by it in turn; it interacts freely with the astral level of the cosmos, and with the astral bodies of other human and non-human beings. It contains most of those parts of the self we normally think of as “mental” or “inner”— intellect, emotion, imagination, will, and memory, the instruments of concrete consciousness — and it is also the basis for the individual personality.***

The mental body can be thought of as the essential pattern of the Soul. It can be described as a subtle “body” only in a highly metaphorical sense, and cannot be located in a spatial sense at all. This body is the instrument of abstract consciousness — that is, thought that does not involve forms and images of the sort we perceive with our senses — and thus makes it possible to perceive the core ideas or structures of experience, which exist outside of space and time.

The etheric, astral and lower mental bodies, all correlate with our physical existence on earth. Each one of us is a unique human being, with particular personality characteristics and a spiritual essence or soul.

The astral reacts to emotions, feelings, and memories that are recorded and triggered in and from the etheric field, which impregnates every cell, tissue and organ in the physical body. The etheric field, apart from the astral body has it own nervous system which is composed of a vast network of energy lines colored with violet or gray forces of light that surround and interpenetrate the body anchoring itself in the heart, the brain, and spleen of the physical body. Every cell within the human body is permeated and enclosed by this etheric matter. The tiny vessels called nadis are similar to the nerves of the body except that they are exposed and vulnerable to the slightest vibration. As these webs of energy known as the nadis or etheric nerves criss-cross one another they form major cross-over points that look similar to the hub of a wheel. These major crossover points connect and breathe life into the 7 major chakras, which also underlie and control the endocrine glands.

The astral body, (called the desire body or field of senses) is not only a reflector of your feelings and emotions, it is also your relations to people, animals, plants, your environment and the universe. The astral field surrounds and envelopes the etheric field, extending as far out as a foot or so from the physical body, it is filled with colors, textures and shapes, constantly expanding and contracting, depending on a person’s mood and emotional state. If we could see the emotional richness of this field, it would be a wondrous display of flowing colors, changing at the slightest shift in one’s mood and behavior.

Have you ever thrown a small stone into a pool and watched as it gently disturbed the surface the water? It sends out waves of ever-increasing circles, radiating out in all directions…..If more than one stone was thrown, the waves would splash in all directions….anyone close to that particular shore would have a good chance of getting wet. This is one example the astral can affect others energy. But there is another way too. The waves from the water also sends out sounds or vibrations ….concentric circles resonating through the air. If the sound of the stone was loud hitting the water, the vibrations in the air would be fast and erratic…a whirlwind of energy. Just imagine how far those vibrations could go!

The astral field can be cluttered with passions, experiences, worries, regrets, negative self-images, memories, actions, reactions, emotions, analyses, hopes and fears. From the time we learnt to express ourselves verbally, we have struggled to find words that would express our feelings that would be ‘acceptable’ to our friends, parents and teachers. We began to wear masks to disguise our true feelings from others, to protect ourselves from criticism and disapproval. Every time we do or say anything or have anything done or said to us, we add another distraction and our true self gets buried deeper and deeper. The more we hold in and hold back our thoughts and feelings, this flux of energy can have a direct affect on the body’s nervous, endocrine, muscular and immune system.

(Interestingly, the word endocrinology comes from the Greek words meaning ‘within’ and ‘I separately’ and this truly explains the role it plays in our lives. Each of these centers has a symbolic meaning….looking at the seven endocrines from the top of the head down, the pituitary is considered the ‘master gland’, the pineal is known as the ‘third eye’, the thyroid represents ‘our power to choose’, the thymus is ‘the director of the immune system’, the adrenals are called the’ fight/flight center’, and the testes (male) and ovaries (female) continue our existence as a species.

“It is…known that the most powerful chemical created in the body come from..[the] endocrine glands. Likewise, it has been found that each is a neurohormonal transducer—able to convert electrical energy in to hormonal energy, and vice versa. A neuro-hormone is a hormone that affects nervous system function or a hormone released due to nerve stimuli.” William A. McGarey, M.D.

“Whatever electricity is to man, that’s what the power of God is. Man may in the material world use God-force, God-power or electricity…..” Edgar Cayce

I’m getting a little ahead of myself here in regards to the nervous system, endocrines, chakras and aura, which we will look at in detail later. But I felt it was important to have some understanding of the endocrine glands, which are both physical and spiritual ‘beings’. These 7 spiritual/glandular centers have a consciousness of their own and each is related to the other 6 through our nervous system and the hormones in the blood. Each one of us has a ‘group’ of amazing consciousnesses inside our being….each with its own history and experiences. And, each center has its own attitude, responses, feelings and works differently in any given situation. It is the nervous system and these seven areas of consciousness that make each of us unique, showing how we’ve communicated with spirit flowing through our bodies. Carl Jung was one the first to see and understand this, birthing the concept of ‘the archetypes’.

“….the easiest way to work with the chakras physically and through their associated endocrine glands. Each chakra is affiliated with a specific gland. Endocrine glands produce hormones, substances that stimulate growth and development. There are nearly 100 known hormones in the body. Working with a chakra through diet, intentional healing, holistic processes, and other means can create optimum function for the related gland and the entire region related to that chakra.” Cyndi Dale

As well, clairvoyants, healers and those developing a greater spiritual awareness are aware of the subtle fields and energy patterns that reflect what may be happening or what’s about to happen to a client’s physical and emotional levels. Just as an illness can manifest in the subtle bodies, healing too often comes through the subtle fields before it can manifest in the physical, which is why many healers work, at least partly in the aura, without laying their hands directly on the physical body. Sensing the subtle fields gives us a clue of problem areas that are excessive, weak, tense, blocked or held in by the client. Healing relaxes, de-stresses and unclutters the mind.

Most of us are awkward in expressing our feelings at one time or another. The reason is that we rehearse in our minds what we want to say before we say it. The complexity involved with talking this over within ourselves is happening so fast we’re not even aware of it. The problem with this is that we usually lose touch with the original, basic feeing that emotionally motivated us in the first place. So when we express something different than what we originally felt, a split occurs between the body, mind, and our feelings and expressions.

When two people interested in each other, come together, they immediately create and project hair-thin threads of auric energy. These threads connect the two auras, feeding emotions and data from one to the other. All communication between the connected individuals is accomplished through the subconscious mind and telepathy. But when we are not expressing our true feelings, we are not being real, authentic, other people can feel this on a subtle level though they don’t interpret the feeling consciously.

“The electromagnetic field that surrounds your Earth and moves through the entire universe is continually adjusted and affected by your every move, thought, and action. Thus you are part of the intricate web of energy that flows through the entire cosmos. As you can effect the energy of the entire cosmos, so too you can effect the energy of each other. You have the ability to send love to the farthest reaches of creation and at the very moment that you send the energy, your intention makes it so. Therefore in this way you move in unison with each other co-creating harmony or discord within the turning cycles of creation.” http://www.newagevillage.com/wiki/index.php/Healing_As_Energy_Transfer

This puts you right smack in the intricate web of energy that flows through the entire cosmos. Something so simple as an act of kindness will pulse along this intricate net of connections, sending and spreading positive feelings in all directions.

*I still remember when I was in the ER with my oldest son who had accidentally stepped on an old rusty nail. The wound had been cleansed and we were waiting for the nurse to give him a tetanus injection. On the other side of the room was a woman crying and sitting all alone. I felt so sad that I couldn’t do anything for her. On impulse I sat beside her and held her hand. I still remember the smile that arose upon her face, her eyes all watery. The woman seemed so relieved, so happy. I thought, I would cry too. Words simply cannot explain what happened that day. All I can say is that I’ve never looked upon simple touch as so simple after all. When I spoke of this to my healing teachers and friends, they said healing energy was being transferred to the woman. But I see it differently. We are all energetically interconnected, there is no separation. Energy is what we are and when we learn to dance with the energy and share it with others, this is what truly makes us what we truly are. So don’t be afraid to ask others if they need a hug. And don’t be afraid to ask if you need one. And even beyond touch, don’t be afraid to smile and say hello to strangers walking past. As a society we need to move beyond the fear we have toward each other.

Emotions are what God used when creating the Universe. Without emotions, art, music, the stars, singing birds, earth, angels and you would not exist. The word emotion comes from the Latin meaning ‘to move out from’. Energy must be free to flow in order for love to exist. Just as the blood in your veins needs to flow in order to keep you alive, energy, e-motion, needs to flow to keep your soul qualities of love, health, abundance and creativity alive within in you.

If you think about it, everything you desire is tied up in your emotions. All the joy, all the abundance, all the love and all the peace, energy, enthusiasm and playfulness are all part of emotion. When you suppress your feelings of sadness, grief, anger and pain, you also suppress the love and joy along with them. Emotion is the key to creation and an important step in becoming your higher self.

Suppressing your emotion will not make it go away. The stagnated emotion will reside in your auric field, in the muscles and cells of your body…and begin to make up your energy. This core energy has a resonance, and this will in turn begin to resonate with similar energy patterns. These energies can be events or other people. So no matter how you try you will not succeed in escaping the pain…you’ll take it with you wherever you go and possibly increase the load as years go by.

I have learned that as soon as something starts to go ‘wrong’ in my life, it means that I am no longer in the upward spiral. Almost every time something isn’t working for me it has lead to a release of something, and mostly it meant forgiving someone else and myself in the process. I’ve also learnt that the release and expression of emotion is the key to allowing more love, joy and abundance in my life, I have also learned there is a fine balance between delving into my past and staying in it.

One of the issues that everyone faces when clearing up their emotional debris is how to let go of the situation and the beliefs surrounding it. To do this we have to understand the ‘mind’ and the mind isn’t just in the brain but in every part of the body. It is constantly recording stimuli and input and experience. The mind is the seat of all our beliefs, perceptions, experiences, memories and aspirations. It is the most powerful tool we have in our possession and also the most difficult one to control.A portion of the mind, is also connected to the autonomic nervous system which is always active, even while asleep, giving us the gift of life by keeping our organs and systems working together, by controlling our circulatory system, breathing, heart-rate, blood pressure, etc. The autonomic is also the domain of your unconscious mind, your dreams and all your memories of present and past lives. We’ll explore all this in Part IV of the Subtle Anatomy, the Causal Body.

Within the soul and higher self lay all the answers as to why an event, relationship or circumstance happened and the reason why.

“The key to healing lies in the unconscious. If we can become aware of the memories stored in our bodies and bring them to mind, we can gain a different, nonrational understanding of how the past influences the present and our conscious minds and actions. We can do it if we learn to tap into what I call the intuition network, to help us envision and create healthier lives, instead of allowing old memories and patterns of behavior to continue re-creating painful experiences.” Mona Lisa Schulz

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footnote…

*The skin really is the body of the soul. It is actually one of the richest sources of all the hormones found in the body. So when we stimulate the skin we can cause a shower of healing chemicals into our blood stream. One of the most important of these are growth factors or growth hormones. By simply stimulating the skin we can produce these growth factors or hormones right into our blood stream. Like the other organs, the skin is also the seat of emotions. When we are deeply moved we say we were deeply touched. We describe situations as sticky, ticklish or thorny, all these have to do with sensations in our body. Therefore the experience of touch or sensation linked to a thought is really what an emotion is. Once again, we can influence emotions, feelings and desires through our skin as a result of the release of these hormones.)